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The floor of Emerald City Comic-Con was filled with wanna be comic writers and artists. Many proudly displayed their first works, preciously printed, and for sale. The writers and artists sat near displays of their books, looking down at pads and sketching, or talking among themselves. They rarely looked up, and unless initiated by an attendee, didn’t engage in conversation beyond whispers to a friend at the table.

Except, at least in my experience, Hannah McGill. So I’m writing about her book, Rawr!

As a writer living in two worlds, one a world of contemporary technology, the other, a world of hard science fiction speculation with an occasional hint of fantasy, I always enjoy coming across real world data that illustrates just how thin the boundaries are between these world.

Ahead of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, McAfee, one of the leaders in online security, has released their list of 2014’s Most Toxic Superheroes. They state in their press release that “this research is based on which superheroes are kryptonite on the web and result in bad links, including viruses, malware and sites laden with malicious software designed to steal passwords and personal information.”

In Graphic Storytelling & Visual Narrative that Eisner is at his most seductive. Bemoaning the loss of daily news strip comics, Eisner suggests, “There is a major structural difference between newspaper storytelling strips and comic books. In comic books, stories come to a definite conclusion, a tradition that began when the early comic books advertised that each story was complete. A book is free-standing whereas newspapers are connected to the pattern of daily life. In a daily continuity, therefore, the storyteller need only segue into the next adventure. [Milton] Caniff understood that the story had to emulate the seamless flow of life’s experiences and that the human adventure doesn’t have neat endings. His work shows us how to tell a story that could make itself part of the reader’s daily life”.

To enter “Be Radical’s PopMatters VIP” giveaway send your name to comics at popmatters dot com, and answer the following question: “What is the title of the first collaborative effort between Radical Publishing and Sam Worthington’s Full Clip Productions?

You know the deal by now. San Diego ComicCon is long lines, little face-time, back seats at the panels you want to get to. Radical Studios is offering two PopMatters readers a breakout from that tired ComicCon cliche. Will you be Radical’s PopMatters VIP?

They’re a transmedia company, so they won’t be in it alone. The genius artist Leonardo Manco will be there daily from Thursday (7/21) thru Sunday (7/24). He’ll be sketching custom covers at every table signing. And he’ll be appearing at Radical’s panel with Full Clip Productions’ Sam Worthington and brothers Michael and John Schwarz. But that’s only the beginning of what Radical at Booth #3735 has in store.